[written 11pm Thursday March 13]

when i went walking along the coast on my first day in dar, i noticed very large droppings by the side the road. they must have been pretty moist upon hitting the ground, as they had spread out into the shape of a grassy pancake or pitabread.

since the brush and cacti blooms were rather thick and about shoulder-height and since this is africa (you know, the lions, tigers, and elephants africa), it occured to me then that there might be some rather ferocious beasts hiding in the cacti, waiting to pounce.

well, on the way home today, i saw the source of the mysterious droppings: dozens of cattle and goats meandering along the scrubby coastal land munching on grass and garbage. turns out people let their cows and goats loose for a snack every once and a while.

there are cactus hedges in tanzania. i don’t know why, but since the association between cacti and texas is so strong, it didn’t occur to me that cacti grew any where other than the midwest US.

there are also palm trees, all over the place, just kind of growing like normal trees.

one last thing: it amazes me that you can get coca cola anywhere in the world. you don’t have to know a word of kiswahili, khmer, or kazakh, but you can go into any bar or restaurant, and say these particular four syllables: “ko-kah-ko-lah” and get just that.